Ashtead secure back to back wins

Ashtead secured their second consecutive league victory of the summer with a two wicket victory over Valley End, which saw them move within 8 points of the top of Division 1 of the Surrey Championship.

Winning the toss on a good looking Ashtead wicket, but with a tinge of green, Vaughan-Davies invited Valley End to bat. Young Tom Williams, who at the age of 18 was making his first team debut for Ashtead, showed no signs of any nerves and bowled at good pace, with plenty of movement and swing. His opening partner, Cope bowled with equal accuracy and picked up the first wicket of the innings, having Stuart Tomlinson caught by Stewart Cameron for 11. Struggling against the new ball and early movement, Valley end were to loose two more wickets in quick succession, another to Cope and to Tom Williams, who trapped Tom Nevin for 11, giving him his first wicket, in what should be a long and successful first team career.

A partnership of 70 odd between Kingsnorth and Redwood, got Valley End more or less on an even keel, taking the score upto 93 – 3. However, the introduction of spinners Deighton and Pickering just before lunch, proved a master stroke, with Pickering picking up the wicket of Kingsnorth and Deighton accounting for Redwood. 5 wickets down at lunch was two more then Valley End would have preferred, but they started off after lunch confidently enough with a stand of 49 between Pilcher and Fisher. However, with the score at 144, Deighton was to bowl Pilcher for 28 and that lead to a disappointing collapse, with the last 5 Valley End wickets falling for the addition of only 42 runs. Deighton was the pick of the bowlers, ended with the highly commendable figures of 5 for 39 off his 23 overs.

Elkin and Vaughan-Davies started the Ashtead innings confidently enough, running their singles very well. Vaughan-Davies innings ended in dramatic fashion, bowled by Mendis for 4 and when Roberts and Davies followed soon after, the pressure was on the Ashtead batting with the score at 60 for 3. Friedlander and Elkin, got things back on track for Ashtead with a partnership of 63, before Friedlander fell LBW for 32.

Elkin remained positive throughout, running his singles aggressively but also punching good solid drives, both sides of the wicket whenever the opportunity arose. With matters starting to move away from them, Valley End mounted a spirited fightback with wickets falling in quick succession and with the score at 148 for 6, the game was very much in the balance. Elkin reached a well deserved century and looked set to see the innings through to a close, when he was caught in the deep for 103, with the score at 177.

Pickering followed almost immediately and with the score at 182 for 8, Valley End must have sensed an unlikely victory. Fortunately, Michael Sanderson kept his head throughout and pulled and drove his way to 16 not out and victory for Ashtead. The Ashtead side will be hoping to make it 3 wins out of 3 when they visit Old Whits on Saturday.